With the weather finally breaking, the daylight hours lengthening & the ground warming we have made it yet again through Winter and found ourselves in the glorious season of Spring. For many of us the favourite, I personally think it is for me to. I absolutely love the idea of renewal, of having the opportunity to start over, to re-think, to plan and to have it all out in front of me.
Running a small business is many things, most of which I am sure I will cover as we travel through these blogs, but this being my first dip of toe into the world of blogging, I’ll start with the right to decide, a hindrance & a blessing in equal measure. A blessing in that I am a control freak and so wouldn’t have it any other way, I was destined to be self-employed! I have learned over time not to be ashamed to admit that and I honestly think this stems from my love of gardening. As a gardener you are in control, you decide what stays, what goes and what gets a second (or third) chance, you get to decide the design, layout & those quirky, personal touches that put “you” into the space. Inevitably, things do not always go to plan nor do they always succeed so having the chance to have another bash at getting it right is exciting & an opportunity not to let slip by.
Running my small business is very much like gardening. It is all about planning and preparation, nurturing the soil into the best condition for sowing or planting, it is the lifeblood of the garden and the thing that can make or break success. I believe that passion is the lifeblood of my business, I nurture my passion, I feed it, I care for it and I never take it for granted. Not everything is successful but I love the opportunity to learn, to try new things & to develop my business. There is nothing more satisfying than when it works, it is that feeling that strives me forward.
So why a hindrance, having the right to decide can be lonely, hard work & very stressful at times, everything is down to you, you can take advice but ultimately it is on your shoulders so you have to trust your instincts & be prepared to take a few knocks… as I have always said to students of mine, you learn so much more from things going wrong, I’m not saying it is easy, it definitely is not easy but you do learn
and learn hard.
Back in Autumn, with thanks to Mr Bloom and his gift of two net-bags full of bulbs, I planted pots of Daffodils to look forward to come Spring. The flower for the month of March is the Daffodil, or as my Mum would call them, the Daffafluffy or Fluffy for short and when, in the depths of Winter, most of us long for the sight of our first Fluffy. They rise like spears from the ground and before long those flower buds with their yellowy hint of the flower beyond start to open with the warmth of the Spring
sunshine.
The net-bag of Fluffy’s are up with their buds starting to open, you’ll see them at the gate as you come to collect your flowers or to pop in for your consultation. I hope they will bring a smile and the warm welcome I want to give.
Daffodils, according to the language of flowers mean “New Beginnings”. They are a lovely flower therefore to add into flower arrangements for early Spring, whether that be for Gifts, Easter, Wedding flowers, Engagement or welcoming a new baby into the world. The Victorians lived by the language of flowers, sending meaningful posies of flowers to send secret messages to friends and loved ones, a language lost amidst the passage of time and development of technology, enabling us to communicate in other ways. It is a myth that Daffodils cannot be mixed in with other flowers due to their sap, especially if you use fresh cut Daffodil’s from the garden. They are perfectly fine to be mixed in, so long as you take the following steps….
▪ Once cut, place them in their own container of water for at least 2 hours to allow the sap to drain.
▪ After this time, remove & rinse the stems
▪ You can now safely arrange them with other flowers
The change of season also brings with it the need to change your door wreath and I’ve been busy with wreath orders too. I have a half wreath on my gate at the moment and I really love it, it’s full of fresh flowers and foliage so different from the ones I am making for orders as it will not last as long but it is a new design and a successful one, I’ll take a moment to enjoy that before getting straight back into thinking ahead! The door wreath remains a very popular design, not many doors are without one & I really enjoy creating them. The new season brings its own list of materials that I like to use to create wreaths, mindful to have them as long lasting as possible.
Next month we have Easter to look forward to, bunnies, chicks, eggs & most importantly chocolate….I’ll continue my chat then
Have a wonderful March
Jo x
